A Defense of Legal Writing

Abstract

t Lawyer, Covington & Burling. A.B. 1970, Harvard University; J.D. 1980, University of California, Berkeley; D.E.A. 1982, University of Paris 2. I would like to thank Klaus Burmeister, Reed Dickerson, Willy Fletcher, Oscar Garibaldi, Tim Hester, William Logan, David Remes, Simon Schneebalg, and Jim Snipes for their perceptive suggestions, not all of which I was wise enough to accept. I would also like to thank Mary Keene for her research assistance. 1 See, e.g., Beardsley, Beware of, Eschew and Avoid Pompous Prolixity and Platitudinous Epistles.!, 16 CAL. ST. B.J. 65 (1941); Beardsley, Wherein and Whereby Beardsley Makes Reply to Challenge, 16 CAL. ST. B.J. 106 (1941); Bowman, Are Lawyers Lousy Writers?, 6 GA. ST. B.J. 285 (1970); Dick, Legal Language, 2 CAN. B.J. 204 (1959); Gerhart, Improving Our Legal Writing: Maxims from the Masters, 40 A.B.A. J. 1057 (1954); Kanter, Effective Legal Writing-Some Thoughts and Reflections on Learning and Teaching, 42 CHI. B. REC. 112 (1960); Kellog, A Plan for Drafting in Plain English, 56 CAL. ST. B.J. 154 (1981); Rossman, The Lawyers' English, 48 A.B.A. J. 50 (1962); see also Lavery, The Language of the Law (pts. 1 & 2), 7 A.B.A. J. 277 (1921), 8 A.B.A. J. 269 (1922); O'Hayre, A Look at Gobbledygook, 8 L. OFF. ECON. & MGMT. 97 (1967); Writing It Right: A Symposium, 15 PRAC. LAW. 33 (1969). 2 See, e.g., R. FLESCH, How TO WRITE PLAIN ENGLISH (1979); R. GOLDFARB & J. RAYMOND, CLEAR UNDERSTANDINGS: A GUIDE TO LEGAL WRITING at x-xi